


Beyond the Shadows

by TheResidueOfLife



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Historical Fantasy, Medieval, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Shadow Realm, Shadowbending & Shadowbenders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 08:15:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28596813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheResidueOfLife/pseuds/TheResidueOfLife
Summary: All she wanted to do was learn how to defend herself in order to become a wanderer as her parents were, but her future is not so certain. Obstacles stand in her way of true freedom if she can ever make it through her apprenticeship.
Relationships: Original Character & Original Character
Comments: 1





	Beyond the Shadows

Three figures lounge around a grassy knoll with intricately designed clothing and foreground, seemingly a masterpiece except for the darkness of the figures' faces. I walked closer to examine it to see if I could make out anything, but there is nothing. Hidden in the corner there was something written, the forgotten.

“Marinta! Where are you, lazy thing?” echoed down the hallway. Looking out the window, I didn’t realize I had wasted so much time staring at the painting. It was past time for me to meet with Kamas for lessons.

He had become my mentor after basically stalking him last year to gain his apprenticeship. I remember it clearly. He was a shadow singer, the only one anyone had ever heard of. At the age of eighteen, everyone must go through the apprenticeship trials to decide their futures. I knew I wanted to become a shadow singer, but the problem was Kamas never attended the proving grounds. It wouldn’t matter what I did if he was not there, he would not take me.

I grew up in an outskirt village within Cormec’s protection with my aunt Tira. My parents had been wanderers that had passed through her village while my mother was pregnant. They had no way of taking care of me and had left me in the inn Tira ran. She had discovered me the next morning wrapped in a sheet in the washbasin bawling my eyes out. Tira liked to say that’s when she knew I wasn’t going anywhere. She took me in and raised me as her own, but demanded I call her aunt. She had sent me to the cities proving in hopes that I would get a better apprenticeship than by staying in the village. Little did she know, but I had no plans to do so. First, I went to all the blacksmiths I could find asking of Kamas, knowing of his skill in weaponry. None knew of him, but all seemed to know someone who did, it was enough to drive me mad. Still, I kept searching, going to markets where he be and asking anybody who would listen. Eventually, I found someone who knew where he bought his food. I stayed there week after week surviving on the little coin Tira had given me to get into the proving. In the end, it wasn’t me who found him but him who found me. I was hidden away in a back alley watching people roam through the market when suddenly the shadows seemed to grab me. I couldn’t move.

“Now what is a girl like you doing asking for me?” whispered from the dark.

Slowly I grabbed the knife hidden behind my back before turning, piercing golden eyes stared out of the darkness. A nightmarish scene as shadows seems to gather closer.

“Marinta. I’m looking to be your apprentice.”

“Apprentice. Hmm, no other has ever approached me as you have. I might consider you, but what use would you be to me. I have no use for an apprentice.”

Laying my knife before him, I promised “I will do any work you need cleaning or otherwise. My aunt was an inn keep and taught me all there was to know. I just ask you to take me in.”

“An interesting proposition…I have no wife or children and despise cleaning. Generally, I get my shadows to take care of it. One thing you should know before though if shadows will not answer your call now, they never will. I can teach you the way of weapons and fighting from the shadows but outside of this, nothing.”

“I do not want a position of housekeeping or weaving or any of the stations where women are allowed to apprentice. This was my one chance, no matter what you have me do, it will be better than that. I wish to explore one day, and hope this will prepare me for travels.”

“You will never be able to truly become a master as other apprentices, but if you accept the terms. I will train you to the best of my abilities.”

“We have a deal.”

* * *

…

“Marinta!”

Shit, I hadn’t noticed Kamas standing in front of me. Trying to look innocent, I looked at him. “Yes, master.”

“Lessons started a quarter ago. What is so important you couldn’t attend?” he said icily. “I took you on to teach, but if you do not wish to learn. I will simply give you more chores. How about mucking the stables?”

Guiltily, I stared at my feet. “I was trying to figure out the faces in the painting.”

“The painting…that’s your excuse.”

“Yes, master.”

“Well show me this fascinating painting that had you so entranced you felt was more important than attending lessons.”

“It’s behind you, sir.”

Finally, I looked up. He had turned around to examine it, but something was up with the look in his eye. He almost seemed, worshipful. Something I had never seen in him before. He was not a religious man, and I had repeatedly heard him complaining about the stupidity of worrying about what happens next instead of what was happening now.

“ _The Forgotten Gods_. It’s ironic that this is what you decide to obsess over. The three hidden faces are that of Deomodus, Phoebus, and Thetis. Gods of shadow, night, and despair; technically our patrons. Years before, they were stricken from the record and all mention of them was to be destroyed, but I guess this survived the fallout. Come, let’s return to my workroom.”

**Author's Note:**

> Looking at expanding on this soon!


End file.
